Project Brief
Mike didn't start McHenry Remodeling because he had a plan. He started it because nobody would hire him. Mid twenties, a young family at home, no safety net, and no jobs to be found. So he started mowing lawns. Then a client asked if he could build a deck. He'd never built one in his life. He said yes anyway, figured it out on instinct, and went back five years later to find it still standing strong. That's the whole story of this company in miniature. Figure it out, do it right, let the work speak.
He taught himself roofing from a homeowner mid project. He taught himself framing by studying what he tore apart on old HUD remodels. Nearly forty years later, he's still the guy walking job sites, still hands on, still building the same way he learned to. His son Greg runs fabrication now, having been handed a quarter million dollar CNC machine in his twenties and told to master it. This isn't a company with a founder story on a wall somewhere. It's a family that built something out of necessity and never stopped raising the bar on themselves.
This project wasn't about inventing a new identity for McHenry. It was about finally giving them one that matched what they'd already earned. 38 years in business, a reputation built entirely on word of mouth and repeat clients, and a level of craftsmanship most remodelers don't come close to. The brand just needed to catch up to the work.
The Solution
We built the mark around McHenry's initials, M, C, and H, locked together into a single monogram. But the real story is in the details hidden inside it. The cuts are shaped like dovetail joints, the same joinery a finish carpenter uses when precision actually matters. The center is a bow tie inlay, an old technique builders once used to secure stone. For a company that fabricates its own countertops in house, that detail isn't decoration. It's literally what they do. The split in the M represents two pieces of material meeting on a workbench, which is where nearly every McHenry project actually begins.
We paired the mark with a palette pulled from the materials themselves. Forest green, cognac brown, aged brass, stone cream, rust terracotta, and charcoal. Nothing trendy, nothing that will look dated in five years. The direction we landed on was Pendleton with a soul, heritage and warmth without ever tipping into corporate or cold. The wordmark keeps a serif built for permanence, the kind of typography that feels inherited rather than trendy.
The system was built to move with the business, not just sit on a business card. It's a stamp of approval more than a logo. It says the work behind it was done by hand, done right, and done by people who've been doing this since before most of their competitors existed.
“Sylas led our full rebrand and website redesign for McHenry Remodeling. Going in, we needed an identity and a site that could actually reflect the level of craftsmanship we bring to every kitchen, bath, and stone fabrication project across the Mid Willamette Valley, along with a site that could handle our lead intake for those projects. He delivered both. The new brand finally feels like us, and the website carries that same quality all the way through. Throughout the whole process he was personable, informative, and professional in every interaction, and he navigated the technical migration seamlessly.
Our clients have already told us how much easier it is to find what they need and get in touch. It's rare to find someone who understands both branding and web development at the level he does, especially in the design build industry. If you're a local business owner looking for a complete brand and website partner, I highly recommend him. We're already planning to bring him back for the McHenry Interiors refresh.”
Mike McHenry,
Owner of McHenry's Remodeling
Mike McHenry,
Owner of
McHenry's Remodeling
